Michigan man accused of defrauding Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

Samer Salami, a real estate agent and broker for Fannie and Freddie,is accused of obtaining properties they owned through TrademarkAssets--a shell company he secretly controlled--for an artificiallylow price.

Salami would then turn around and sell the property to an actual,higher bidder—pocketing the difference between the two sales, plus adouble commission.

Overall, it’s alleged Salami bilked the mortgage giants out of about$488,000, through 22 such illegal housing sales in Wayne county.

Wayne county prosecutor Kym Worthy is pursuing the case as part of ajoint, federal-state task force on mortgage and deed fraud.

“This is the state part of an ongoing, much larger federalinvestigation,” Worthy said. “We have other similar, cases going on,so we know it’s more widespread than just this defendant.”

Salami is charged with conducting a criminal enterprise and multiplerelated crimes.

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